Clemson got its revenge on the Seminoles after last season’s loss with a 29-13 win. It was an ugly win that showed good things and stuff the Tigers still need to work on. It was the Tigers’ first true road game of the year, and they should still be happy with the win. They also controlled much of the game which can be seen looking at the box score, but there was much to be desired in some key areas.
Despite this Dabo Swinney’s team moves to 3-0 in the ACC. Swinney now passes Bobby Bowden for the most wins for a head coach of an ACC program. The Tigers also won their fourth straight game of this season. Even if it wasn’t the best game the Tigers have played this season, they still have momentum on their side as the midway point of the season approaches.
Offense Gets Slowed Down a Bit
The Clemson offense has been on fire following the loss to Georgia to open the season. The Tigers have outscored their opponents 165-69 in the three games leading up to their matchup with the Seminoles. Not much changed in the offense’s performance against Florida State except for the way they finished drives. The Tigers settled for more field goals in this game than in the previous three games. The Tigers had too many drives that got them into the red zone but did not finish reaching the end zone.
Clemson had 500 total yards of offense in the game with only two touchdowns. The offense scored four times out of six attempts in the red zone. Each of those scores was field goals. Two other field goal attempts were blocked by the Seminoles. Finishing these long drives into the red zone with touchdowns instead of field goals will be vital if Clemson wants to win a championship. Six points are always better than three.
Besides not finishing drives as well as they needed to, the Tigers’ offense still looked good. Cade Klubnik is still playing great football. He completed 19 of his 33 pass attempts for 235 yards and two touchdowns. The junior quarterback also ran the ball well when he needed to, picking up 62 yards on the ground scrambling. Klubnik’s confidence and decisiveness have kept this offense rolling.
As this game against Florida State went on, it became up to Phil Mafah to put it away. In the second half, the Tigers had Mafah taking more carries to run the clock and control the football. After a bit of a slow start in the first half, Mafah finished the game with 25 carries for 154 yards. Being able to run the ball well through the second half helped Clemson to secure the game.
Defense Still Lacking Real Dominance
The Clemson defense has been an interesting unit to watch. They haven’t played a bad game all season, but they also have yet to look as dominant as expected. The defense only gave up 22 rushing yards to Florida State. That is excellent even against a team with as poor a running game as the Seminoles have. The Tigers’ defense also gave up 250 yards total though and let redshirt freshman quarterback Brock Glenn make some great plays.
Much like the offense, the Tigers’ defense also had trouble finishing drives the way they should. They allowed Florida State to extend drives all four times the Seminoles went for it on fourth down. For a defense with the expectations this Clemson unit has, that can’t happen against an offense struggling as much as the Seminoles’ this season. The defense still made some great plays during the game though.
The biggest play was made by cornerback Avieon Terrell who got the lone turnover of the game with an interception. That turnover led to a Clemson touchdown on the following drive. Terrell had a good night against the Seminoles finishing with three total tackles, one-and-a-half tackles for loss, and an interception. Barrett Carter also had another great game filling up the stat sheet again. He had nine total tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, and a pass breakup.
The Good, Bad and Ugly
This game was not all bad for the Tigers. At the end of it, they walked out with the win. The game was also not all good either though. The good is the Tigers won and did dominate in the box score. Most importantly Klubnik still looks poised and is leading the team extremely well.
The bad is that Clemson has still yet to truly dominate a full game. For the expectations Clemson has, they need to prove they can completely handle a team, especially inferior ones, from start to finish.
The ugly is that while this may get them to the top of a shaky ACC this season, the struggle to finish drives and games strong will hurt them against higher-level competition. It already did hurt the Tigers in their game against Georgia. In the first half, they came out looking strong, especially on defense. Then in the second half, things fell apart. Clemson has to put a couple of fully dominant games together during this stretch. This will show that the Tigers are taking the next step to being back in championship form.
